Chapter 14 – The Gathering of Leaders
Dumbledore sat in his office seat taping one finger on his desk while waiting patiently. Many unexpected events had happened today, all of which were out of his control. It all started with the Potter boy and his attack on Neville. Never had he seen such savage ferocity emitted by a student before. He had heard many rumors that the Potter boy emitted violent behavior while growing up, but the headmaster had not suspected it to be so savage-like. However, while the boy was inferior to Neville in every possible way, he did not back down even when outnumbered and overpowered. Or at least that was how it should have been. Dumbledore had given Neville special training in the past and assigned a private tutor to ensure Neville would become powerful, yet the Potter boy overpowered Neville with brute muggle force.
Ron, Dean and Seamus all had begun their training and should have easily held the Potter boy down, yet they lasted no more than a few moments. Why? Why was it that the Potter boy won? What makes the Potter boy able to defeat Neville and his three friends? How is it that someone of such inferiority able to defeat The-Boy-Who-Lived? Nothing made any sense. The strong always dominate over the weak. The commoners always fear the ones with wealth, fame, fortune and political power. These were the unwritten rules of society, yet how can a boy of 11 years of age shatter these foundations? Did the Potter boy have no fear of breaking the rules?
No. He was the son of James Potter after all. James Potter, the leader of the Marauders along with Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Harry was much like his father when it came to rule breaking. So how do you control a person as wild as James Potter? Use their weakness against them. Blackmail them. Yes. Those were the best ways to control a good hearted person.
"I thought you said there wouldn't be any problems, Dumbledore," a dark creaky voice spoke from behind the headmaster breaking him from his thoughts. "I encountered a man dressed in black. He is not a student nor had you mentioned him before."
"Yes I have. That man is James Evans," Dumbledore replied as he turned to face his visitor. "So, tell me, Zavond, did you kill him?"
"No," came the reply.
Dumbledore remained silent for a moment as he looked into the man's eyes. There was no fear in them nor was there deceit. "How can a Vearon such as you fail to kill a mere human?"
"Because James Evans may not be a mere human. It seems that there may be more than one soul residing in the body of James Evans. How many, I cannot be sure, but there is at least two."
"Intriguing. Tell me more. No, start from the beginning. I want to know about this James Evans," Dumbledore spoke with a growing grin.
Zavond entered Hogwarts using one of the many secret entryways he had committed to memory, however he had not been here in a very long time. Nor did he ever wish to return to this place. It held memories of a past he wished to bewishedgotten.
After a few steps into the halls of Hogwarts, he noticed a strange presence in the halls. Zavond had not noticed this presence earlier through the use of all his scrying techniques and spells. Never once in his life as a Vearon has someone been able to avoid detection, yet someone has. As he moved closer, Zavond could see a feint shadow of the person he sensed. Next to the shadow was a girl he had seen with Neville during his battle against the trolls. Three had been killed by a keen blade and fire spells by Dumbledore, or so Zavond assumed as the old headmaster could easily transform himself and kill the trolls.
When Zavond came closer to the shadow, he realized it was the same man whom he thought was Dumbledore. It quickly dawned to Zavond that the man before him could potentially provide great services to Neville, should the man be swayed. This man seemed as powerful as Dumbledore and much younger. However, before Zavond could finish his thoughts, he saw the girl turn and run.
How? Zavond asked himself. No one had ever sensed him before, aside from Dumbledore after he made himself known. How was this man able to avoid his detection, mask his identity and know of his presence? Then the answer dawned to him. Zavond could see a feint spirit residing inside the body aside from the dominant spirit who had control over the body. Had the man only have one spirit, Zavond would never have sensed him.
"Who are you?" Zavond asked the man when he turned towards Zavond's general direction.
"Interesting that you would ask who I am without introducing yourself," the man replied with a laugh as a black but thin bladed sword materialized in his hand and drawn for battle. "Then again, I doubt you would, so let's get this over with!"
Suddenly, the man's head jerked to look directly into Zavond's eyes through the wall. Zavond realized that the man had known of his exact location too late as the wall before him blew open. He could feel pain from a wound caused by the tip of the man's blade, but it healed moments later. "Very good instincts, but that won't be enough!" Zavond cried out as he lashed out by summoning a giant flame with the shape of a dragon, however the man countered with a dragon shaped from water engulfing and quelling his flames.
"We'll see about that!" the man challenged with a smirk as he shot forward at blinding speeds and slashed in a horizontal arc. Zavond leaped back, but the man already prepared his next attack. The man's fist shot through Zavond's defenses and slammed into the center of his chest. If that was all, Zavond would have recovered quickly, but a sudden immense pain filled his body as an explosion erupted tearing a hole in his chest. He was sent flying from one end of the hall to the other before the brick walls stopped his flight.
As he laid on his back, Zavond found it difficult to breath without two working lungs. His heart was destroyed, but the loss of flesh hardly affected Vearons. Vearons only needed a body of flesh to allow their astral bodies to enter the world of the living. Without flesh, they would be no more than a wandering spirit unable to make their presence known and unable to physically affect the lives of the living. The wound quickly healed itself and Zavond was back on his feet.
This man was certainly different from all the enemies Zavond had fought before. Demons, Vampires, Werewolves, Celestial Knights and even Vearons had Zavond fought and only a few of the hundreds have ever given him so much difficulty in his human form. If the battle continued on, Zavond knew he would lose as the man he was facing has had far more experience in battle. There only left one method of evening out the battle: transforming into his Vearon form.
"You're good. Extremely good for someone as young as you are. However, you will no longer have the advantage," Zavond spoke as he leaned forward. The man looked as if he was about to charge when he suddenly stopped and took a few steps back while falling into a guard stance. It surprised Zavond that the man changed so suddenly, almost as- No. The man already knew. His opponent already knew Zavond was a Vearon and now changing into his Vearon form. "Not going to attack?"
"No," the man replied simply while staying perfectly still.
"Who are you?" Zavond repeated his first question.
"Someone who might not live after this battle unless I receive divine intervention," the man answered loud enough for Zavond to hear.
"You can run if you like."
"You're not going to let me live."
"I can if-" Zavond began, but the man cut him short.
"My answer is still no."
"I haven't even spoken my proposal."
"There's no need to. I am fighting my own war, and my enemy's enemy is not my friend. And a person who would give up his humanity for the sake of power is hardly someone I can or would trust."
"Very well, then, stranger. Meet your end as the divine beings will not intervene to save your life!" Zavond spoke as he began to change. His arms were the first to transform into large muscular arms before his chest enlarged to grow enough muscle to support his two arms. Zavond looked much like an ape or gorilla at the moment, but that would change soon enough. His skin quickly changed into deep green scales which covered his entire body. A large muscular tail grew and he swung it against the wall to remember what it was like to have a tail. His legs did not grow much as he was no longer a bipedal human, but a lizard like creature with ape-like features in terms of body proportions and movement. Finally, Zavond's head began to change into the shape of a dragon. "You don't seem very surprised."
"When I have time to be surprised, I'll let you know if I was or not," the man spoke with a grin.
"I see your sense of humor has not dulled one bit," Zavond grunted. "You don't seem very serious at all."
"Life is too short to be serious all the time. You never know when you'll die, so why not enjoy every moment the best you can?" the man replied.
"Then why not join us?"
"And become a Vearon? Sorry, I must pass. I like being human."
"You don't have to become a Vearon. There are many ways to become immortal, should you wish to. Our organization has done much research in this area and you could say, it's become our expertise."
"Oh really? Then I can skip explaining to you why I don't want to become immortal because I already know ever method possible. I also know of every method possible to destroy an immortal."
"Care to divulge your secrets? Our organization would be very interested in learning some of your techniques. Our enemy is one who has sought to become immortal, however we do not know how well our enemy succeeded in doing that. Your knowledge would be a great asset and you don't even have to join us or become immortal. We just wish to gain some of your knowledge."
"Sorry, no deal. I'm fighting Voldemort as well and fighting by my own means. I've trusted people like you once before and ended up losing everything. So I'd much rather die fighting you than chancing that happening again."
"A pity, I must say. You would have lived so much longer," Zavond spoke just before he readied himself to charge. Suddenly, the ground beneath him broke open and a column of flames erupted turning one of his arms to ash. Zavond cried in pain as he had not expected the man to have done anything during the time they were having a short chat. The pain was gone the next second as his arm regenerated, but the man had disappeared.
Just as quickly as the man disappeared, he reappeared before Zavond and stabbed his black bladed sword forward. Zavond launched his right arm forward easily shattering the blade, but suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his upper right arm as another black bladed sword severed his arm cleanly off his body. Zavond turned to see a copy of the man stabbing his sword forward once more. To avoid the blade, he spun his body to the right bringing his left hand over to punch the copy of the man through the wall. With his tail, Zavond knocked the man away so he could recover.
Things had not gone as smoothly as Zavond hoped as the copy set his left arm on fire while the man stabbed the broken blade into his tail. The wounds were painful, but Zavond was sure the man would be hurting more until the two images of the man faded into thin air. Then a flash notified Zavond of something to his right. But it was too late as arrows of fire pierced through his scales and burning the insides of his body.
Left with no choice, Zavond used the one ability that set him apart from most other Vearons other than a handful of others who had the same ability. Immediately, the arrows of fire were doused and Zavond was fully regenerated. However, his scales changed from green to silver. More arrows of flames shot at him, but his silver scales immediately absorbed the magical energy and the arrows were gone. Now it was time for Zavond to counterattack.
His first move was launching through the walls where he knew the man was. With all the magic in the area being absorbed, the man's magical disguise was taken away as well. Now the man was no more than a mere human muggle. However, the man would not be taken down so easily. The man lunged forward and rolled between Zavond's legs and slashing off his tail. Pain was of little consequence because with all the magic Zavond absorbed, his wounds healed instantaneously. With his regrown tail, Zavond slammed it down on top of the man crushing him through the ground and to the lower floor.
A smile lit across Zavond's draconic face as he looked through the hole in the ground where his enemy struggled to stand again. He knew the sign of defeat the moment it was displayed, and looking at the man, Zavond knew the man's defeat was imminent. Zavond jumped down to greet his near defeated enemy once more to end the man's life quickly so the man would not pose a threat in the future. He whipped his tail forward from behind his back directly at the man's head, but again the man had something hidden up his sleeve. There was no time to act against the man's as he dodged left, grabbed Zavond's tail before casting a spell.
To what effect the spell had, Zavond did not know, but he retaliated by whipping his tail up knocking the man back and cutting off the man's right arm roughly from his shoulders. The end of his lips arced up, but it soon faded as twenty or more spears of light stabbed into his body. Although magical, Zavond could not absorb it which meant that the spell that created these spears might have been specialized for battling Vaerons. With his own magic, Zavond tried to destroy the spears, but it was then that he realized he had fallen into a trap. Immediately, all his magic as a Vaeron was sucked away. A sudden dizziness caused him to fall to the ground, human once more.
What happened? Zavond asked himself as he looked at his hands. They were human, but he could still fell magic. Without much effort, Zavond summoned a ball of fire into the palm of his hand. I can still use magic. He then tried to summon his Vaeron form once more, but nothing happened. Zavond had battled many witches and wizards specialized in killing Vaerons, but never had he met a hunter that used a spell like this to neutralize his powers.
Standing up, Zavond looked over to the man who lay face down in a pool of his own blood. "Damn you!" he cried as charged forward while summoning a magical fire that wrapped around his two arms.
A sudden burst of light blinded Zavond before an invisible barrier slammed against him and bound him in midair. "We cannot allow you to harm this man," a female voice spoke. When his vision returned, Zavond saw a woman dressed in pure white with fair skin. She had long wavy golden blond hair and a golden hue illuminating the edges around her. "Love," she spoke as she knelt down next to the man, "you must learn not to push yourself in your state. You are much weaker now than you were then."
"Who and what are you?" Zavond cried out in fury for an answer.
"I am this man's guardian spirit, as he was once mine," the woman answered as she closed her eyes and began an incantation.
"You won't take the pleasure of killing him away from me!" Zavond shouted as he charged forward with magic swirling around both arms. He never had a chance to attack as a metallic red blade slashed through the air severing his right arm before a heavy boot lodged into his stomach. The force was so great that it lifted him up into the air and sent him flying backwards. However, that was not the end as he heard a second incantation and a wave of a staff. Zavond raised his left arm to shield from an impending attack, but his magic was no where near strong enough as roots spouted from the ground below and stabbed into his body before slamming him into the wall.
The wall crumpled down upon him, but Zavond's strength had yet to fade. "Who are you, you accursed woman!" He shouted as the concrete blocks were tossed aside easily. Zavond's wounds healed instantaneously as he gathered his magic and launched a barrage of flaming arrows at the woman, but she just smiled as the arrows passed harmlessly through her ethereal body. "Blasted woman. Had she not come, I would have killed this pest. Oh well, she left him here so I mind as well finish what I started. I can chase after her later."
But before Zavond could finish his job, three boys leaped down and one of them spoke, "I'm sorry, but I cannot let you kill this man."
"More allies of the pathetic excuse for a wizard? No matter, none of you will escape alive!" Zavond shouted as he forged his magic into balls of fire. However, he had not counted on the boy to have command of greater magic. Two blades of air shot forward slashing his chest and face digging deeply into his flesh throwing his concentration off. "You will pay for that!" the Zavond coughed in pain as his summoned fireballs burned away. When he turned back, Zavond saw the four boys vanish through a magical doorway.
"I would not have thought that one man could prove to be so difficult," Dumbledore spoke as he scratched his chin.
"Neither did I, but this James Evans, or so you say, is quite powerful in respect to the number of souls inhabiting his body," Zavond responded. "However, he knew how to neutralize me Vaeron form. I have faced many Hunters, but not a single Hunter could do what this James Evans did. Even now I am still unable to use my Vaeron form."
"Neutralize?! I thought that was impossible?" Dumbledore exclaimed, surprised that there existed a spell that could neutralize the powers of the most powerful mortal magical being in existence.
"So did I as I was told it was impossible…" Zavond's voice trailed off as he remembered a slight detail he had not thought of since he had become a Vaeron. "No. It is quite possible, but in the past when Hunters were far greater and more powerful. Many legends exists telling of how some Hunters could fight days without rest slaughtering thousands of Vaerons, Hisateas, Maphers, Demons and other such creatures. Most who take on these tasks are killed. All except one…"
"One you say? Who might this be?"
"We only speak of him in legends."
"Have you forgotten that Vaerons were once legends to you and me?" Dumbledore countered.
Zavond's eyes grew dark before he responded, "Varhiskul Romana, the greatest Hunter of time. A legend among legends. His true name, no one knows. We only hear of the name bestowed to him by the Vampire King Kesthula."
"Kesthula? That was the last King of Triteron, Kingdom of Vampires. He lived tens of thousands of years ago! What could have possibly made this Varhiskul so famous?"
"You see, Dumbledore, Varhiskul received his name from Kesthula for hunting down every Vaeron, Hisateas, Maphers, Demons, Werewolf, renegade Vampire, Minotaur, Hydra and any other magical creature that had a bounty on their heads from the moment Kesthula took throne to the height of his imperial power. Do you know how long of a time that was?"
"I must confess, I do not know."
"Twenty two thousand, eight hundred and seventy seven years. Long as it may be, but vampires are immortal under most circumstances, but Varhiskul Romana was no Vampire. He was human."
"Human? There must be a mistake."
"None. Varhiskul continued to make a name for himself even after Kesthula's sudden disappearance and fall of the Triteron."
"Then there exist another way to achieve immortality," Dumbledore said as he locked his fingers together.
"Yes, but no one has been able to discover the secret or confirm that it was the same man. Some speculate that the mantle is passed on from generation to generation. This, too, is just a mere speculation. Proof has never been found to justify or denounce these claims."
Dumbledore remained silent for a moment. These legends of this immortal human intrigued him, but legends were often exaggerated truths passed on through time. However, if this legend proves true, then Dumbledore's greatest and most powerful ally may be rendered useless. "What does Voldemort know about this Varhiskul?"
"Nothing so far. This Hunter is a legend among the ancient Vampires and Werewolves. Few still remember the stories as there existed many Hunters who have killed Vampires and Werewolves and lived to die of old age. We Vaerons and perhaps Maphers remember this Hunter because of his ability to render our supernatural abilities useless," Zavond replied. However, he suddenly jerked his head towards the front door into the headmaster's office.
"I'm afraid we must continue this conversation another time. I was expecting visitors, but not so soon," Dumbledore spoke as Zavond gave a bow before retreating into the shadows. "Come in," the headmaster greeted as the door swung open before anyone could knock. "Good evening, Minister, Mrs. Longbottom, and Potters." The last word came out almost as a spat, but James and Lily seemed not to notice.
"Would you care to explain how Neville and his friends were attacked by four trolls, Headmaster?" Frank spoke with a low and incriminating voice.
"Were the students safe? Any injuries? Is Harry safe?" Lily seemed to sputter ignoring the fact that Dumbledore was about to answer the question the Minister posed first.
"You should teach your savage son some manners, Lily," Alice spat. "Then again, I don't suppose a family of your status would know the first about manners."
"If this is about Silva, we already apologize-" Lily began, but Alice would not allow her to finish.
"No, this is not about Silva. This is about your savage beating my poor helpless Neville in class. I don't suppose you have heard about that. And Headmaster, I move that you expel that savage immediately!"
"What?" Lily exclaimed.
"Ladies!" Dumbledore shouted, tired of listening to the two women bicker about. "Keep your feud outside the walls of Hogwarts. If you do not, I will personally expel both Neville and Harry." Lily immediately fell silent, but Alice was not about to be intimitaded by the headmaster. She was, after all, the wife of the Minister, the wizard commanding the most political power. However, Frank pulled her back forcing her to keep silent. "That's better. Harry did indeed beat Neville, but he has been dealt with. I have locked him in his room and not allowed him to move until I have access the situation. He, however, will not be expelled. I have my reasons for keeping him here.
"As for the incident with the trolls, Dean and Seamus foolishly stepped to close and was injured by one troll," Alice looked away with a lazy eye showing how much she did not care, "however, Neville, with the help of Ron, defeated the troll." Upon hearing those words, Alice beamed proudly. "That was after three trolls were killed single handedly by a mysterious man dressed in all black. We are currently in search of any leads to why the Trolls were able to enter as well as who this man is, but no leads have been discovered."
"This man, does he have a name?" Frank asked.
"Rumors say he is named 'James Evans'." Dumbledore replied as he turned his eyes to study the reaction of James and Lily, but all he found were confused looks on their faces.
"How were the trolls killed?" James asked quickly.
"By magic," Dumbledore replied, hoping to glean something to reveal the identity of this James Evans.
"As far as I know, only I am able to use magic in my family," Lily began. "And I don't know of any relative aside from my husband who has the name James."
"Stop lying, Lily. Everyone here knows that you know the truth," Alice shot at Lily.
"Alice!" Frank said in a grave tone. "We have no proof that Lily is lying and no reason to incriminate her unjustly. As much as we may hate the Potters for the past, we cannot rightly justify our accusations because of our personal feelings." Turning to James and Lily, Frank said, "Now if you will kindly leave before we continue our feud. I suspect you wish for your son to stay in Hogwarts as much as we do."
James just nodded and left the office with Lily following silently behind him.
"Why do you defend them?" Alice spat with an icy tone.
"I didn't. Did you hear me apologize for your actions? No. They are scum and my opinion has not changed. However, should Dumbledore wish to keep Harry here at Hogwarts, we must keep our hatred of the Potters at a minimum while here for you still remember the headmaster's promise," Frank retorted which silenced Alice. Turning back to the headmaster, Frank spoke, "I suppose there is much you are not saying, Dumbledore, for I know you would not keep Harry here any longer in fear that he may become a threat to Neville."
"Yes, there is much I have not said. In regards to Harry, I believe he may become a powerful ally should we break him away from his family. His wand is not like any I have seen before and during the past few weeks I have seen him unless a maelstrom of untamed magical energy, one that could rival Neville's." Dumbledore paused as he thought the Longbottoms would speak at this moment, but they had not. "I have mistakenly thought that Harry would forever remain a squib, as his magical core was taken from him, but that proved to not be the case. Somehow, Harry's magical core has been revived."
"But Harry has proved himself hard to tame, has he not, Dumbledore?" Frank asked, but it was more of a statement than a question.
"Yes. Far too difficult. However, your son is partially to blame. Today's incident in the classroom was caused by your son's violent behavior towards students within his own house, most notably a girl named Hermione Granger," the headmaster explained.
"Oh, the orphan daughter of a Muggle whore," Alice spat in disgust. "That thing should not be allowed here in Hogwarts either. It may corrupt the integrity of our society."
"I agree, but you must also have a reason for this, do you not, Dumbledore?" Frank said as he glared at his wife to remain silent.
"Yes. Despite being born of the Grangers, most specifically Rosa, Hermione has been prophesized to be a great asset to Neville in the upcoming war. Her intelligence and wisdom is said to become peerless. It is for that reason I have plucked her from the Muggles and placed her in an orphanage of wizard and witch offspring. Many things are done with good reason, Alice, for I know a great deal of which students would become useful to Neville in the future. Our only wildcard is Harry Potter," Dumbledore responded.
"What about this James Evans? Is he not a wildcard as well?" Frank followed quickly.
"No, for we know that even with all his powers, he is weak. What I had left out with the conversation with the Potters is that this James Evans uses wandless magic and controls it with deadly precision. Three trolls were killed near instantaneously and effortlessly, however, his power does not match that of a Vaeron. As much as I would like to continue this conversation, I cannot for I must monitor the Potters. Zavond will finish where I left off," Dumbledore finished, and in a moment he vanished.
A figure stepped out the shadows revealing a round man wearing a cloak. His face was unshaven and head was balding, but life still burned in his eyes. "It's nice to see you again, Frank and Alice."
"It is. How fares your son, Odin, at Drumstrang?" Alice said with a kind smile.
"Well. He is excelling at a frightening pace, according to the professors at Drumstrang," Zavond responded with a smile as well.
"I would have thought you would have wanted to meet the Potters," Frank said changing the topic suddenly, "Were they not your best friends when you were younger?"
"That was a long time ago, Frank. However, I wish not to talk about the Potters, so I will retell my story of my meeting with James Evans," Zavond spoke with a dark tone.
"Yes, forgive me, Zavond. The past is hard to forget. Please, do tell us about this James Evans," Frank spoke cautiously as he knew not to further anger Zavond. Most would not live past touching a nerve, but Frank's friendship, if it could be called such, permitted him to step past the normal boundaries.
After a moment's pause to accept Frank's apology, Zavond quickly spoke of his encounter with James Evans. When he finished, Zavond could see that both Frank and Alice were intrigued to know more, so Zavond spoke, "I must say he's a shrewd fellow and not different from James Potter, but far greater in intelligence like Lily Evans."
"Then you believe that the Potters were lying earlier?" Frank asked.
"Believe? There's no need to believe that was so, they were lying," Alice shot maliciously.
"I'm afraid you're suspicious are wrong, Alice," Zavond spoke which received a hateful glare from both Longbottoms. "The Potters certainly did not know this James Evans, but this James Evans is certainly related to the Potters."
"What?" Alice cried out in confusion. Frank, too, was confused, but remained silent for Zavond to explain.
"James Evans is not the true name of whoever the man I fought. This name was created to mask his identity but still give him an identity that ties him with the Potters," Zavond explained.
"Then it must be their despicable son, Harry," Alice said quickly.
"That's jumping too far ahead, my dear," Frank said against his wife. "That would also be impossible as Zavond would have detected that the man he fought was indeed Harry. One of a Vaeron's ability is to see the soul or souls that inhabit a body, correct?"
"Yes. I would have known if that was Harry immediately. Also, James Evans was in complete control of wandless magic and his power can easily overwhelm Neville who has the greatest magical potential in this moment in time. In addition to his power, he has knowledge of spells that no longer exists in our time," Zavond spoke strengthening Frank's argument.
"So we are either dealing with a time traveler or a dimension hopper," Frank said as he sat back in his seat.
"I don't like how someone could be more powerful than my Neville. I say we kill him as quickly as time permits," Alice suggested.
"Dumbledore would not approve of this, as he has hopes that James Evans will become a great asset to our movement," Zavond replied, but there was a hint in his voice that he did not agree with Dumbledore on this matter.
"And he has hopes for Harry as well," Frank added. "However, the old man is becoming arrogant and believes that he can force people to act the way he wishes. We will allow James Evans and Harry Potter to live, but they will die should they stand in our way."
"Yes, that does sound likes a reasonable proposal which Dumbledore would agree to," Zavond approved. Zavond and Frank both turned towards Alice awaiting her answer.
"Very well," Alice replied. "Then inform your 'colleagues' about this plan, Zavond. Frank will bring forth and investigation to use the Ministry's resources to track down this James Evans and I will prepare the members of the Order to keep an eye on the Potters."
"This sounds like a good plan," Frank said as the three adults stood up from their seats, "but before we call it a day, there is one last thing I wish to discuss with you."
"Oh? What may that be?" Zavond asked, intrigued by Frank's sudden introduction of a new topic.
"Neville." Both Alice and Zavond were taken back by Frank's short and straight forward reply, but he continued, "As you both heard, Neville assaulted Hermione and Pavarti today in class causing Harry to retaliate, however, this should not have happened. If Neville is to become The-Boy-Who-Lived and the leader of this war, he must learn to treat his allies as equals. I have allowed both of you to teach Neville the way you wish, but now I see I have been too lenient.
"Neville must win the hearts and respect of his followers and to do so, Neville must respect others. He may treat those who follow him however he wishes, but he must not push away potential allies at first sight. If he continues to do so, I fear Neville will fail as a leader and that is not something I want to see. Do I make myself clear?" His short lecture received two hard and spiteful glares, but it was to be expected. Frank knew he had taught Neville to become the way he is now, but it was time for change and this was a sacrifice he was willing to make.
"How do you wish to go about this?" Zavond dared to ask.
"As cruel as it may seem, we must punish him," Frank answered as he felt his chest sink.
"Then it must be done," Alice reluctantly agreed.
Author's Note: Sorry that it's been a long time since I've updated. December came and things become busy, then hectic. Thing's haven't cooled down yet, but I do hope I won't find myself without time to write. I do enjoy writing this story a lot and I hope you enjoy reading it as well. Thanks for reading and reviewing. Hopefully I'll have a new chapter up soon.
Oh, I just remembered someone reviewed stating that I was an apologist for Slytherin. Yes, I am sadden by how everyone believes that the Slytherin House is filled with egotistic and arrogant evil craving bastards, but I have yet to find someone who has written how truly evil a Slytherin can be. Also, I fail to see how a Slytherin is seen as evil simply by what the house values: ambition, cunning and resourcefulness. In the next chapter, I am going to introduce a character that will make use of all three traits in his path to becoming evil's incarnate, but there will also be a character that does the opposite (well, Harry will as he has great ambition, cunning and resourcefulness, so a character excluding Harry). Oh, and this evil character is not going to fight for Voldemort, but rather against him and along side Neville.
Edit: Harryfan, you stated that I only have to look at all of Voldemort's followers and himself, but I don't see them as evil as a Slytherin can be with the three valued traits. All Voldemort does is go around killing people, where's the cunningness in that? There's no point in killing people at random and making it such that everyone knows who did it. And where's the demonic cruelty? Why not make a brother slaughter a sister in the most horrid of ways and then display her mutilated body for the world? Why not have a mother sacrifice her children in a deadly ritual thinking it's for the good of the world? Voldemort has done no such thing. Yet. It's painful to lose a loved one, yes, but would it not be far crueler to make it so in such a way that one just manipulates the people around him or her telling followers to kill unjustly leaving survivors questioning why someone so close would betray them? Evil portrayed in the books thus far have yet to touch the meaning of evil for me.
As for why I'm bashing Gryffindor? It's because they are following Neville as The-Boy-Who-Lived blindly. If it weren't set up as such, Gryffindors would play hero and each set out to right the wrongs in the world. They only believe they are at this moment because Neville is The-Boy-Who-Lived and proclaimed hero by the world. Followers should find a valid reason to group behind a leader. Fred and George are behind Harry because they wish to cause Neville trouble. Silva follows Harry because he simply likes Harry and wants to witness the world Harry will create. Ron follows Neville because he does not wish to become like his father, a man stepped upon by everyone he works with. Right now, people follow Neville because he's The-Boy-Who-Lived much like how Dumbledore's Army was formed because they followed Harry as The-Boy-Who-Lived. Harry proved himself as a good teacher, but what if was Hermione or Ron teaching? Would it have the same effect? Perhaps, but it will never be greater than having a proclaimed hero.